‘Rubbish’: Queensland hits back at Billy Slater claim

Queensland has hit back at claims surrounding “rattled” Billy Slater ahead of the State of Origin series decider.

Josh Hannay speaks to media on Wednesday morning.

The Queensland camp has denied claims surrounding Billy Slater in the hours leading into the State of Origin series decider at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Maroons coach has been at the centre of the biggest dramas since his team was blown off the park in Melbourne earlier this month.

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Slater has never tasted a series defeat as a coach in the Origin arena and there have been swirling suggestions the Melbourne Storm legend has been feeling the pressure.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday morning, Queensland assistant coach Josh Hannay said rumours that his colleague has been acting like a different person in recent days “couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“It’s all rubbish,” he said.

Billy Slater and Josh Hanney. Photo: Fox Sports News.

“He’s the same Billy that I’ve worked with for three years.”

Slater was furious on Tuesday when he was told about a Channel 9 report that he and Selwyn Cobbo had fallen out since the start of their Origin campaign.

The 41-year-old said it was “totally fake news” when asked about the claim Cobbo hadn’t seen eye-to-eye with the Queensland coaching staff

Slater has also changed his team’s normal preparations for the decider, including a decision to scrap a traditional media day ahead of the showdown with Michael Maguire’s Blues.

In the eyes of some, it paints a picture that Slater is feeling the heat.

“If anything, and this is the frightening part, it’s only made him more determined,” Hannay said of the Game 2 bloodbath.

“He doesn’t like sitting through what we had to sit through in Game 2.

“The only thing I’ve witnessed is a more determined Billy Slater and that’s a frightening prospect.”

Selwyn Cobbo and Billy Slater.

Leading NRL reporter Dean Ritchie said Maguire’s uncharacteristic public attacks on Slater and his team had “rattled” Slater.

“Madge has come in and surprised us all,” Ritchie told Sky Sports Radio about Maguire’s surprising verbal barbs fired into the Queensland camp.

“Because Madge when he was at Souths and the Tigers, wasn’t very big on talking to the media and I think it’s unsettled Billy. I think it’s unsettled Billy as much as the fact they were whacked by 30 points in the first half in Melbourne.

“That’s probably unsettled Billy more than the argy bargy off the field. But I think Billy was expecting a nice, smooth, easy run in as he has in the last couple of years and it hasn’t been that way.

“There’s been questions thrown at him and I just think he’s a little bit rattled at the moment and maybe just second guessing.”

Originally published as ‘Rubbish’: Queensland hits back at Billy Slater claim